SACRAMENTO, CA - Some dogs just naturally like to swim and Troy Harrell's pitbull, Kotipelto ('Koti' for short), is one of those dogs.

Then, one day, quite unexpectedly, Koti did something Harrell had never seen before: he held his breath and dived to the bottom of the pool to retrieve a rubber toy.

The dog's secret?

"I don't know," Harrell said. "I've never had a dog like him.I'll never be able to find one like him, either. I just swam with him all last summer and by the end of the summer, I had him doing it.He sort of just did it by himself.I didn't teach him anything."

Koti is a big, friendly dog and a favorite with all the members of the family.Harrell is hopingKoti's personalitycan help change the perception people usually have of pitbulls.

"There's a big campaign against pit bulls, and[Koti] is good news forpitbulls right here," Harrell said. "Can you imagine if somebody fell in and couldn't swim?I'm pretty confident that if I told my dog to grab that person, he could go in and grab that person!"

Koti demonstrated his talent for us a number of times and seemed to be having fun.

Harrell is hoping he can get the attention of Animal Planet and maybe the Ellen DeGeneres show.